Thepessage's Blog

Samba group posts $1.2bn profit in 2008

thepessage — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:39:28 +0000

KARACHI: Samba posted a net income of 4.5 billion riyal or $1.2 billion in 2008, 7.7 percent lower than in 2007. Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Samba Financial Group, Eisa M Al-Eisa announced Samba’s financial results for the year ended December 31, 2008. Net special commission income rose 2.4 percent versus 2007 to 5.1 billion riyal or $1.36 billion. Income from Asset Management grew by 8.4 percent over last year, while other fees and commissions increased by 38.7 percent over 2007. Total operating income was at 7.02 billion riyal or $1.87 billion as compared to 7.19 billion riyal or $1.91 billion last year. Earnings per share for the full year was approximately 5 riyal or $1.33 as compared with 5.4 riyal or $1.44 last year. Samba’s loan-to-deposit ratio was 73 percent, well below the regulatory requirement of 85 percent. Samba’s capitalisation and balance sheet with total equity standing at 20.2 billion riyal or $5.38 billion, supporting total assets of 179 billion riyal or $47.73 billion. In Pakistan, this was mainly related to the initial brand launch, systems integration and upgrade and opening of new branches across Pakistan. Samba has now a network of 28 branches across Pakistan. In 2008, Samba also acquired additional licences to operate in Qatar and India.

Source: http://dailytimes.com.pk

Inbox and PIA sign a half million USD plus deal for IBM systems

thepessage — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:34:34 +0000

Sometimes I regret having left Inbox. Every now and then, they break the norms and do something really amazing in the industry. After a recent string of wins and successful system implementations, starting with the Habib bank project, the AIOU MOU, and then the PTCL deal, Inbox recently closed a deal with PIA to migrate them from their old IBM Z mainframe to a brand new one with high end storage. The price tag of the deal? over half a million USD. Inbox is also a much strong company and has arguably won the “battle of the system integrators” and come out as a major player over several other local firms. Someone should start tracking Inbox’s history because if it does make it, it would be the closest thing to a local Wipro, since it also is the dominant player in the local desktop market.

In a market that is essentially in the boondocks (thats british for the ones reading this in the US) , this is quite amazing to pull off such a large deal, with a tough customer like PIA. So when you now book your flight on the PIA, atleast the computer system would be alot faster and screens (might) load faster!

A side note : Alot of recent changes in my life are prompting me to blog a bit slowly, but there is a broadband review, a new smart phone review, and some website reviews coming up. plus new authors and design changes. Ah, when will I find the time!!

http://netxpress.com.pk/2009/01/inbox-to-provide-ibm-system-z-mainframe-server-and-ds8300-storage-solution-to-pia/

Hello world!

thepessage — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:52:42 +0000

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!